The Hopi Lake/ Bidahochi Spillover Theory: How a giant lake shaped the Grand Canyon

🌊 The video explores different theories about the formation of the Grand Canyon.

🗺️ One theory suggests that multiple ancient rivers merged to create the Canyon.

📝 John Douglas proposes the spillover theory, which has gained recognition among geologists.

🌊 The Colorado River poured into a basin, forming a huge lake.

⛰️ The lake rose and spilled across the plateau, cutting rapidly.

🔬 A scale-model experiment is being conducted to test the spillover theory.

🌊 Waterfalls cutting and working their way back, causing a significant release of water.

🏞️ Formation of huge Canyon with landslides and shrinking of the lake.

🌄 The experiment proves the validity of the spillover theory on a small scale.

🌊 The presence of green clays in the old lake bed indicates the existence of a deep lake, supporting the theory of Grand Canyon formation through overflow.

🗻 The Color River from the Rocky Mountains made its way to this location, acting as a stopover point before eventually spilling across and forming the Grand Canyon.

🌎 By comparing the depth of the water with the contour hiked lines of the surrounding countryside, the size of the area once covered by water was determined.

🌊 Hopi Lake, also known as Bidahochi, was a massive body of water that covered 20,000 square miles and held over three thousand cubic miles of water.

🗻 The size of Hopi Lake exceeded that of Lake Michigan, making it one of the largest bodies of water in North America.